http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/290102p-248159c.htmlJust when you thought the Bernard Kerik sleaze factor might be banished from your consciousness comes another story to make New Yorkers upchuck. Turns out the former police commissioner, whose rather libertine personal history cost him the job of homeland security czar, has been getting hugely handsome royalties from a book published to benefit the families of 9/11 heroes.
The cover of "In the Line of Duty" states: "Publisher's profits will be donated to the New York Police & Fire Widows' & Children's Benefit Fund," yet Kerik reaped $75,954.52 for writing an 11-sentence introduction for the book. He negotiated this arrangement while conducting an affair with the book's publisher in an apartment that overlooked Ground Zero when the ruins were still smoldering.
In doing so, Kerik traded on his position and prominence to profit from the worst tragedy to befall New York City and America. There is only one way to describe his conduct: shameful. And there is only one remedy: Kerik must put every penny of that $75,954.52 where it belonged in the first place. That would be the bank account of the New York Police & Fire Widows' & Children's Benefit Fund.
The publisher of "In the Line of Duty," ReganBooks, is headed by Judith Regan, Kerik's former lover. The company says it has given all the revenue from the book to the benefit fund, some $500,000. Former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen also wrote an intro but took not a penny. Not a cent. Not a sou. He directed the publisher to send his dough directly to the fund.
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